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Files uploaded on multiple file upload field are not in the same order on email and PDF submission

Asked by
snaplash
on April 02, 2016 at 12:58 PM

Hello All,

How do I maintain the file upload order when it is set to allow multiple?

If I upload files as below:

When I receive the CSV or PDF it has placed them in numerical order as below:

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to replicate the issue. I created a form and use the multiple uploads. I did upload the files and it showed up properly in the submissions area, notification and PDF.

Here's the PDF screenshot:

After that, I cloned your form and deleted all the fields except for the file upload tool. I upload PDFs and it is properly arranged as well.

Here's the PDF:

Since it is a multiple file upload, it is possible that this was submitted by highlighting all the files from a folder and then dragging it to upload button. I would suggest to drag the files one by one in order. You can also arrange the files first in the folder and then highlight them and then drag them to the upload button.

Hope that works. Thank you.

Answered by
snaplash
on April 02, 2016 at 08:27 PM

Hi,

Thank you for your response, if you look further down the list in the picture I uploaded the files are not in order:

If I upload files in order of 1.mp3 2.mp3 3.mp3 everthing is great!

I did upload files individually as you suggested and the issue persists unfortunately.

If I upload in order of 1.mp3 33.mp3 2.mp3 32.mp3 9.mp3 24.mp3 they are outputed in numerical order in the spreadsheet and pdf as:

1.mp3

2.mp3

24.mp3

32.mp3

33.mp3

9.mp3

Can you help? thank you so much!

JotForm Support

Answered by
EltonCris
on April 02, 2016 at 11:56 PM

Thanks for reporting. Does it really have to be in order? Since all the files can be downloaded locally, I think you should be able to re-order them there.

Also, in real submissions by the users, how are you able to compare the ordering of the files submitted by them? Are they required to take a screenshot of their uploads and send it to you? I don't think there's really a problem here. :)

But anyway, I still have raised this minor ordering issue to our lvl2 team. This may be in a low prior list but rest assured as soon as we have updates, we'll let you know.

Answered by
snaplash
on April 03, 2016 at 12:19 AM

Unfortunately, it is very important to me that they are in the order. The form is just the method for aquiring the images and there is a whole lot more code that makes the business run - so No, i dont get to see the a users uploads ahead of receiving them - but it does make an issue for me.

I seperate the file uploads into individual spreadsheet fields via php so I can work with the order.

This is for the real estate industry - if the user uploads images of a house in order, they will start with uploading the exterior. Unfortunately due to this issue, the exterior may be last in the list - and when i make the video it will look silly.

The Drag and Drop file upload widget did maintain the order of the upload, but it is completely unreliable.

Please suggest a way to get around this problem with another widget or:

Is there a way that you label the uploaded file that would indicate the order of upload when compared to one another such as a unix timestamp etc?

JotForm Support

Answered by
Welvin
on April 03, 2016 at 03:40 AM

How about asking them to zip the file and named the zip files based on the order that you want? Isn't this possible for you? Well, you need to unzip the files after and this is an extra task to complete to the end user.

Labeling the files during the upload is not possible so I'm afraid that we cannot provide you a workaround within the form builder.

Answered by
snaplash
on April 03, 2016 at 12:21 PM

Thanks Welvin, the zip is a good solution - or I may just ask the user to rename files numerically.

Anyways, I really appreciate your thoughts on this. If it hasnt been done - please send this suggestion to your devs.

Thank you!

JotForm Support

Answered by
Nik_C
on April 03, 2016 at 03:03 PM

We have sent a feature request to our developers. We'll notify you when we get an update from them.